Apple is making another big investment in the environment, with the tech giant now announcing its $200 million Restore Fund that strives to remove a massive amount of carbon dioxide from the earth's atmosphere. While lots of tech companies have programs for giving back to the planet and reducing their environmental impact, few are as bold as Apple is with its efforts.
Over the years, Apple has made countless steps forward to help protect the planet. Many Apple products are made with 100% recycled aluminum, all of Apple's stores/offices/data centers are powered by renewable energy, and those efforts continue to expand with every year that passes. In addition to focusing on environmentally-friendly tactics within the company, Apple has also branched out to help with green projects in other areas — such as helping to restore a 27,000-acre forest in Columbia back in 2018.
As of April 15, Apple is once again proving its commitment to the planet's wellbeing. The new Restore Fund is a $200 million initiative aiming to eliminate at least 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide every year. That's the same amount of CO2 created by more than 200,000 cars, and it feeds into Apple's previous goal of being completely carbon neutral by 2030. 75 percent of that comes from Apple directly removing emissions from its supply chains and products. The company says the remaining 25 percent will come from this new plan to remove carbon dioxide from the earth's atmosphere.
How Apple's Restore Fund Works & Why It's Important
In regards to how Apple plans on removing all of that carbon dioxide, the solution lies in preserving and restoring nature itself. As noted by Apple's vice president of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives — Lisa Jackson — "Nature provides some of the best tools to remove carbon from the atmosphere. Forests, wetlands, and grasslands draw carbon from the atmosphere and store it away permanently in their soils, roots, and branches." The Restore Fund will see Apple making big investments in forestry projects that have already proven effective at eliminating carbon dioxide, with Apple also saying the fund will generate a financial return in addition to the environmental impact.
While no large corporation is perfect, Apple included, news like this is always good to see. Any efforts to try and protect the earth are welcome ones, especially when they're at this large of a scale. Some may argue that Apple could invest more than $200 million considering it's worth over $2 trillion, but it's better than no investment at all.
Furthermore, Apple continuing to make these investments — and boast about them — will hopefully encourage other companies to do the same. As Apple keeps talking about how green-friendly it is and how it's doing so much more than its competitors, that gives companies like Samsung, Google, and others another incentive to step up their own efforts. All of this results in the earth becoming healthier and stronger, which is a win in everybody's book.
Source: Apple